Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, as well as a Langley City reader, are pleading with young people to avoid large crowds and situations that increase the potential spread of COVID. (BC Government/Special to Black Press Media)

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, as well as a Langley City reader, are pleading with young people to avoid large crowds and situations that increase the potential spread of COVID. (BC Government/Special to Black Press Media)

LETTER: Langley woman pleads with young people to think of the ‘greater good’

No one likes the COVID regulations, but please adhere to them to save our seniors and others

Dear Editor,

[RE: Vancouverites party on the streets, in spite of celebrity messaging, Aug. 16, Black Press Media]

To the young people, the coronavirus has changed the world and we must change with it.

I know these sunny summer days are calling you to gather together with friends, to dance and party into the wee hours.

I’m asking you to put that on pause for a year.

A year will hopefully, give us time to get the virus under control.

You are young, you have time to make it up.

Seniors do not.

These are their last good years. They want to be visiting friends and family, celebrating special birthdays, travelling, hugging friends.

Instead they are keeping close to home, keeping their bubble small and watching the year go by.

They may not catch the virus. They hopefully will stay healthy. But, they are losing a year.

A lost year at 19, 24, even 30, can be made up.

A lost year at 65, 70, or 75, is harder to make up. There aren’t that many good years left.

You don’t like the regulations, well neither do any of them.

It sucks not to go places, see friends.

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Sometimes you just have to do stuff that isn’t fun for the greater good.

It isn’t just the elderly who are at risk.

Young people are getting it now, as well, and there can be lingering effects that may last a lifetime.

No one knows this virus. There is no vaccine, there is no cure.

By congregating in large groups, you risk picking it up and transporting it to others.

We need to stop the virus from spreading and we need to do that now.

We know how.

Wear a mask, keep your bubble small, wash your hands.

If we don’t get control of the virus it may go on disrupting our lives for years. No one wants that. You have time on your side, seniors don’t. It’s just a year.

Linda Marchant, Langley City

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Langley Advance Times